IS UBER HALF THE COST OF AN AIRPORT TAXI AT MAJOR US AIRPORTS?

Q – As a rather frequent business traveler who is not, admittedly, tuned in to the latest apps and services, I was surprised when a colleague described her extremely positive experiences with Uber. Wondering what you think of the service generally and whether or not it is true, as she has told me, that they are half the price of normal taxis to and from the airport? Really enjoy this site but wish there was much more information that would be helpful to business travelers.Are you planning on increasing your business travel coverage?

A – There are a few variables here that make your question difficult to answer with any degree of precision. Some of these have to do with the specific airport, whether or not you are using regular Uber or Uber Black, and the time of day you will be traveling. (Uber gets really expensive about 1:00am.) Money Magazine did a survey of comparative fares and found that taxis are actually less expensive than Uber at Boston’s Logan, and New York’s JFK and LaGuardia airports. But in all other cases, Uber beats taxi fares and you have a 17% better chance that your driver showered that morning.

Uber, and their competitor Lyft, are fine if saving money is your goal. We think that people who use these services do so because they are unaware of just how dangerous a ride tot he airport is statistically. It is considerably more likely to cause your death than a terrorist attack abroad. Placing your life in the hands of a driver who has “online likes” is ridiculous and only those who don;t understand how much online likes and reviews can be manipulated would place any faith in them. The Uber Black program is more expensive but it has the better vehicles and the more professional drivers. Because they are using their own vehicles, we place more faith in Uber than the average big-city taxi driver. That would be our last choice. You will find some comparative pricing in the chart above. If the travel industry and the travel press really wanted to save lives we would shout this from the highest rooftop “Driving in some strangers car or taxi, here or overseas, is the most dangerous thing you do when you travel”. Choose carefully.

Finally, I am afraid that we have little interest in business travelers. If you are late for your meeting in Omaha, you will survive. Warren will see you another time. But if someone screws up your vacation, the time of the year you worked those other fifty weeks to enjoy, well then we take that personally. There are some wonderful web sites dedicated to business flyers. Our favorite is “View from the Wing”. But we will continue to devote all of our attention in our media group and our travel planning consultancy to the upscale and discriminating worldwide vacation traveler.

THE CHURCHILL & TUREN LTD. MEDIA GROUP

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